Here’s a brand new 3-minute video providing a comprehensive understanding of how NameBlock functions. Discover how it can empower registrars, boost registries, and safeguard end-users from potential domain threats.
AbuseShield by NameBlock | Use Case
Here’s a short video showcasing how AbuseShield works in real-life applications to protect your customers’ domains from cyber fraud and malicious actors.
AbuseShield is a powerful tool designed to block variants of domain names commonly used for abusive purposes.
By adding AbuseShield to the checkout flow during domain name purchases, you can protect your customers’ domains from using lookalike domain names malicious attacks, even before they are registered.
In the video, NameBlock demonstrates how AbuseShield generates an Abuse Variant List, which includes domain name variants based on abuse suffixes, homoglyphs, and common misspellings, and blocks up to 500 domain names with the same domain extension as the primary domain registration.
The best thing about AbuseShield is that it doesn’t require a trademark. Your customers can take advantage of this tool to protect their brand online as long as the owner of the block label domain name registration and the AbuseShield block owner is the same.
Don’t miss out on providing your customers with an extra layer of protection.
Visit NameBlock.com or contact me and I’ll be happy to show you how NameBlock decides on what to block, and what NOT to block.
An introduction to AbuseShield
Here’s a 2-minute overview of AbuseShield from NameBlock excerpted from a recent NameBlock Deep Dive webinar. I introduced the AbuseShield product, and the opportunity it offers to domain name resellers and registrars.
NameBlock is uniting the domain industry by using domain-blocking to prevent DNS abuse and creating a domain-blocking marketplace designed to work with any domain extension and third-party blocking service. Launching this spring, NameBlock will give participating extensions, registrars, and resellers access to an untapped source of revenue via a single API integration to the marketplace.
Found Revenue Opportunity
Found Revenue Opportunity. It was among the key topics covered in last month’s NameBlock Deep Dive Webinar for Registries. Watch it now at NameBlock.com.
Learn how participating will generate an additional revenue stream for your registry and how easy it is to integrate. A webinar specifically for registrars and resellers is planned for 26 January. Details soon!
Carel Bitter updates us on Spamhaus, botnet C&C, and criminal domain name usage trends
Carel Bitter is Head of Data at Spamhaus. I was fortunate to interview him last year for the iQ Podcast #5: “How Spamhaus addresses DNS Abuse.” It’s still worth checking out if you missed it!
And last month, I was delighted to catch up again with Carel, this time in person while attending Nordic Domains 2022 in Stockholm. I asked him to spare 25 minutes to provide us with an update on Spamhaus’ DNS abuse fighting activities among other topics, such as:
- The latest in cyber threats that they track
- Regulatory interest observations, and related reports on domain abuse
- Criminal domain name usage trends that propagate phishing, malware, and botnets
- The issues of trust, authenticating users
- How botnet command and control points work
- Potential threats due to the war in Ukraine
In addition to subscribing/following and listening wherever you get your podcasts, you can also listen to this interview via the Alexa Home Assistant.
Just say: “Alexa, play iQ Global Podcast, Episode 17.”
You can also listen via iQ’s YouTube channel:
Graeme Bunton talks about the DNS Abuse Institute & NetBeacon
This iQ Podcast emanates from being able to meet up last month in Stockholm during Nordic Domain Days 2022 with domain name industry veteran Graeme Bunton, who is the inaugural Director of PIR’s DNS Abuse Institute (DNSAI).
The DNSAI is planning to publicly launch NetBeacon (a centralized abuse reporting tool) in early June. [UPDATE: It is now launched at NetBeacon.org] So I thought it was an ideal opportunity to sit down with Graeme for 20 minutes to learn more about the DNSAI’s mission, their NetBeacon tool, and other initiatives they are working on to assist the industry in fighting DNS abuse.
Graeme was formerly Head of Policy at Tucows, one of the world’s largest domain registrars. And many in the industry will recall that he was chair of the Registrar Stakeholder Group and served as co-chair of both the RRSG Abuse Working Group and the Contracted Party Abuse Working Group. On top of all that, Graeme was one of the driving forces in the creation of the Framework to Address Abuse, which has more than 50 registry and registrar signatories.
In addition to subscribing/following and listening wherever you get your podcasts, you can also listen to this interview via the Alexa Home Assistant.
Just say: “Alexa, play iQ Global Podcast, Episode 16.”
You can also listen via iQ’s YouTube channel:
Industry chat with Michele Neylon
Many of us in the domain or hosting industries are social animals. As online as we are, some of us still crave in-person interaction, and just getting out and about around the world in order to “make things happen.”
Two years have passed due to you-know-what. However last month I finally had my very first industry face-to-face, with someone that was not from iQ!
Amazing!
How refreshing it was to talk some “shop” with Michele Neylon, who is the CEO and Founder of Blacknight, a 100% Irish-owned and based in Ireland ICANN accredited registrar and hosting company.
Michele and CTO/co-founder Paul Kelly were gracious and proud to show off their office headquarters and hosting premises that they completely renovated and upgraded just before the pandemic struck.
Afterward, I sat down with Michele for a nice proper face-to-face chat. Something you just can’t replicate on Zoom.
Michele is well known in ICANN and internet policy development circles, and quite active on social media. If you’ve been following him you know he doesn’t hold back on his opinions.
We covered a lot, and whether you watch the video or listen to the podcast, you can easily navigate to whatever topic interests you.
Everything from how Blacknight weathered the pandemic, how “return to work” is going, domains, opportunistic vs. abusive registration, comments on the EU study on DNS Abuse, alternative roots/blockchain tech/Web3, new gTLDs, the “second round”, what he looks for when a TLD approaches for promos and marketing, NIS2, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and more.
In addition to subscribing and listening wherever you get your podcasts, you can also listen to the interview via the Alexa Home Assistant.
Just say: “Alexa, play iQ Global Podcast, Episode 15.”
A Female Perspective on the Domain Industry
Mou Mukherjee is an industry veteran and a friend who is Head of Registry Services at .CLOUD, which is an iQ customer.
I originally approached Mou about doing an interview for the iQ Podcast on the successes and challenges of running a new gTLD registry. At some point during our initial conversation, I recall Mou mentioning her unique experience of “being a woman of color, born in India, raised in Canada, working for an Italian company, and doing business in China.”
That’s when it hit me. “Mou, I think you have an amazing story to tell that will inspire and help others! We should do an interview that speaks to this! (The irony of me being a male suggesting and then conducting this interview is not lost!)
So this interview is a bit of a departure from the usual. We spend the first half of the discussion going through Mou’s early days in the industry, and then her observed successes and challenges of running a registry, etc. The last half is all about her lived experience as a female in the domain industry.
Thank you Mou for opening up the door a bit to your amazing story.
In addition to subscribing and listening wherever you get your podcasts, you can also listen to the interview via the Alexa Home Assistant.
Just say: “Alexa, play iQ Global Podcast, Episode 14.
A major upgrade for a tool helping to fight abuse and build a safer internet
I’m pleased to announce a major, significant abuse management tool upgrade, from all of us at iQ, that helps in fighting abuse and building a safer internet. iQ Abuse Manager v2!
It’s designed for domain name registries, back-end RSPs, registrars, hosting companies, domain administrators, DNS Slave Server Providers, and SaaS platforms.
There’s way more to show than what the below overview video touches on. Please contact me if you’d like a full demo. Otherwise set up a free 14-day trial now and test it yourself. It takes less than 5 minutes to get going.
How .BANK addresses the Cybersecurity Problem
We’re all aware of ongoing cybersecurity problems these days. Who hasn’t received a suspicious phishing email or link that if clicked could end up turning over your personal information and passwords to criminals? Almost no domain extension is completely safe from this and other forms of abuse. Many consumers are not completely aware of how to protect themselves or what trust signals to look for when doing business online.
The vast increase in demand for digital products and services, especially as a result of the pandemic, was not lost among the founders or the .bank domain extension. Just as .edu is only for schools, and .gov is only for .government, .bank is only for verified banks.
It’s super restricted and has layers of cybersecurity requirements for its registrants. Watch or listen to this latest iQ Podcast episode and learn more about the .bank story, and how they are making the internet a safer place for banks and their customers.
PINKY BRAND 